Music is conceptualized as a product and a process of imagination. It is often assumed that engagement in music initiates the developmental and evolutionary emergence of imagination. This conception ...
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Music is conceptualized as a product and a process of imagination. It is often assumed that engagement in music initiates the developmental and evolutionary emergence of imagination. This conception of music and its relationship to human powers of imagining is treated differently in science and musicology. For science, music is simply a complex pattern of sound or the experience of structured sound. For musicology and ethnomusicology, music cannot be separated from the cultural contexts in which they are embedded. This chapter proposes a broad operational definition of music which can be acceptable and applicable cross-naturally. This radical redefinition of music may provide ways of understanding music as both a culturally embedded practice and biologically grounded structure. Apart from providing a redefinition of music, the chapter also investigates some of the potential implications and consequences of this radical redefinition of music such as the possibility that the human capacity for culture may have been supported and consolidated by the emergence and presence of musicality.Less

Music, Science, and Culture

CROSS IAN

Published in print: 2007-12-27

Music is conceptualized as a product and a process of imagination. It is often assumed that engagement in music initiates the developmental and evolutionary emergence of imagination. This conception of music and its relationship to human powers of imagining is treated differently in science and musicology. For science, music is simply a complex pattern of sound or the experience of structured sound. For musicology and ethnomusicology, music cannot be separated from the cultural contexts in which they are embedded. This chapter proposes a broad operational definition of music which can be acceptable and applicable cross-naturally. This radical redefinition of music may provide ways of understanding music as both a culturally embedded practice and biologically grounded structure. Apart from providing a redefinition of music, the chapter also investigates some of the potential implications and consequences of this radical redefinition of music such as the possibility that the human capacity for culture may have been supported and consolidated by the emergence and presence of musicality.

The women's categorization of Jain hymns illuminates the content – and performance‐based understanding of the genre. The harmony of a Jain hymn and its poetics, music, and accompanying dance is ...
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The women's categorization of Jain hymns illuminates the content – and performance‐based understanding of the genre. The harmony of a Jain hymn and its poetics, music, and accompanying dance is central to Jain aesthetics. Jain poetry relies on the sentiment of peace for its emotional basis. The careful performances and the attention to the details of performance are a major part of Jain aesthetics and reflect Jain religious values.Less

The Shapes and Categories of Stavan

M. Whitney Kelting

Published in print: 2001-08-30

The women's categorization of Jain hymns illuminates the content – and performance‐based understanding of the genre. The harmony of a Jain hymn and its poetics, music, and accompanying dance is central to Jain aesthetics. Jain poetry relies on the sentiment of peace for its emotional basis. The careful performances and the attention to the details of performance are a major part of Jain aesthetics and reflect Jain religious values.

This book rewrites musically the history and philosophy of the sublime. Music enables us to reconsider the traditional course of sublime feeling on a track from pain to pleasure. ...
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This book rewrites musically the history and philosophy of the sublime. Music enables us to reconsider the traditional course of sublime feeling on a track from pain to pleasure. Resisting the notion that there is a single format for sublime feeling, the book shows how, from the mid-18th century onward, sublime feeling is, instead, constantly rearticulated in a complex interaction with musicality. It takes as the point of departure Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgment and Jean-François Lyotard's aesthetic writings of the 1980s and 1990s. Kant framed the sublime narratively as an epic of self-transcendence. By contrast, Lyotard sought to substitute open immanence for Kantian transcendence, yet he failed to deconstruct the Kantian epic. The book performs this deconstruction by juxtaposing 18th- and 19th-century conceptions of the infinite, Sehnsucht, the divided self, and unconscious drives with contemporary readings of instrumental music. Critically assessing Edmund Burke, James Usher, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Novalis, Arthur Schopenhauer, Richard Wagner, and Friedrich Nietzsche, this book re-presents the sublime as a feeling that defers resolution and hangs suspended between pain and pleasure. It rewrites the mathematical sublime as différence, while it redresses the dynamical sublime as trauma: unending, undetermined, unresolved. Whereas most musicological studies in this area have focused on traces of the Kantian sublime in Handel, Haydn, and Beethoven, this book calls on the 19th-century theorist Arthur Seidl to analyze the sublime of, rather than in, music. It does so by invoking Seidl's concept of formwidrigkeit (“form-contrariness”) in juxtaposition with Romantic piano music, and (post)modernist musical minimalisms.Less

Musically Sublime : Indeterminacy, Infinity, Irresolvability

Kiene Brillenburg Wurth

Published in print: 2009-03-02

This book rewrites musically the history and philosophy of the sublime. Music enables us to reconsider the traditional course of sublime feeling on a track from pain to pleasure. Resisting the notion that there is a single format for sublime feeling, the book shows how, from the mid-18th century onward, sublime feeling is, instead, constantly rearticulated in a complex interaction with musicality. It takes as the point of departure Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgment and Jean-François Lyotard's aesthetic writings of the 1980s and 1990s. Kant framed the sublime narratively as an epic of self-transcendence. By contrast, Lyotard sought to substitute open immanence for Kantian transcendence, yet he failed to deconstruct the Kantian epic. The book performs this deconstruction by juxtaposing 18th- and 19th-century conceptions of the infinite, Sehnsucht, the divided self, and unconscious drives with contemporary readings of instrumental music. Critically assessing Edmund Burke, James Usher, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Novalis, Arthur Schopenhauer, Richard Wagner, and Friedrich Nietzsche, this book re-presents the sublime as a feeling that defers resolution and hangs suspended between pain and pleasure. It rewrites the mathematical sublime as différence, while it redresses the dynamical sublime as trauma: unending, undetermined, unresolved. Whereas most musicological studies in this area have focused on traces of the Kantian sublime in Handel, Haydn, and Beethoven, this book calls on the 19th-century theorist Arthur Seidl to analyze the sublime of, rather than in, music. It does so by invoking Seidl's concept of formwidrigkeit (“form-contrariness”) in juxtaposition with Romantic piano music, and (post)modernist musical minimalisms.

The structure of musical giftedness is a reflection of the path of development which music has followed over the entire course of human history. Musical talent was arranged and formed together with ...
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The structure of musical giftedness is a reflection of the path of development which music has followed over the entire course of human history. Musical talent was arranged and formed together with musical activity, and deep within its very core. The first part to emerge was the expressive ear for music, followed by the sense of rhythm that brought forth musical movement and created musical time. The expressive ear and the sense of rhythm served as the basis for the further development of the music of earliest man: relying on the sense of timbre and quality of sound articulation as well as the ideation of musical movement (its accentual nature and structural orientation), the analytical ear, the next stage in the development of musical talent, could then be born. The complex of musical abilities relied on a motivational nucleus (the expressive ear) which makes up the center of human musicality, the basis of our ability to decode the content of a musical message and react to it.Less

The structure of musical talent

Dina Kirnarskaya

Published in print: 2009-06-11

The structure of musical giftedness is a reflection of the path of development which music has followed over the entire course of human history. Musical talent was arranged and formed together with musical activity, and deep within its very core. The first part to emerge was the expressive ear for music, followed by the sense of rhythm that brought forth musical movement and created musical time. The expressive ear and the sense of rhythm served as the basis for the further development of the music of earliest man: relying on the sense of timbre and quality of sound articulation as well as the ideation of musical movement (its accentual nature and structural orientation), the analytical ear, the next stage in the development of musical talent, could then be born. The complex of musical abilities relied on a motivational nucleus (the expressive ear) which makes up the center of human musicality, the basis of our ability to decode the content of a musical message and react to it.

This chapter focuses on the processes concerned with learning and the development of musical expertise which are common to all human beings but which develop differentially depending on the ...
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This chapter focuses on the processes concerned with learning and the development of musical expertise which are common to all human beings but which develop differentially depending on the environment (cultural and ecological) within which individuals are located. It considers what we know about human learning, the way that the brain develops in response to the particular musical environments to which the individual is exposed, and how these changes are expressed as musical expertise develops. The evidence regarding the importance of long-term engagement with music for expertise to develop is considered and how beliefs about personal efficacy can influence commitment to active music-making. The chapter concludes with a consideration of the different cultural perceptions of ‘musicality’ and changing perceptions of it in Western culture.Less

Culture, musicality, and musical expertise

Susan Hallam

Published in print: 2010-11-01

This chapter focuses on the processes concerned with learning and the development of musical expertise which are common to all human beings but which develop differentially depending on the environment (cultural and ecological) within which individuals are located. It considers what we know about human learning, the way that the brain develops in response to the particular musical environments to which the individual is exposed, and how these changes are expressed as musical expertise develops. The evidence regarding the importance of long-term engagement with music for expertise to develop is considered and how beliefs about personal efficacy can influence commitment to active music-making. The chapter concludes with a consideration of the different cultural perceptions of ‘musicality’ and changing perceptions of it in Western culture.

This chapter aims to interrogate the nature and role of the musical arts of singing and dancing in culture to explore the impact on both the quality of life and wellbeing. The chapter is divided into ...
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This chapter aims to interrogate the nature and role of the musical arts of singing and dancing in culture to explore the impact on both the quality of life and wellbeing. The chapter is divided into three primary sections, beginning with a discussion of music and its embodied communicative function, with evidence from infancy and early childhood research. The second section considers how musical arts are experienced in Western contexts, especially in terms of their contemporary use. The final section introduces the musical culture of the Venda of South Africa, showing how musicality is defined there in a culturally-specific manner. Through current research and the historical work of John Blacking, the final section explores how musicality is constructed within and beyond communities. The cross-cultural analysis allows for the examination of distinct notions of embodied musical communication whilst building on developments that support the idea of musicality and its role in enhancing quality of life and feelings of wellbeing.Less

Embodied Musical Communication Across Cultures: Singing and Dancing for Quality of Life and Wellbeing Benefit

Jane DavidsonAndrea Emberly

Published in print: 2012-02-23

This chapter aims to interrogate the nature and role of the musical arts of singing and dancing in culture to explore the impact on both the quality of life and wellbeing. The chapter is divided into three primary sections, beginning with a discussion of music and its embodied communicative function, with evidence from infancy and early childhood research. The second section considers how musical arts are experienced in Western contexts, especially in terms of their contemporary use. The final section introduces the musical culture of the Venda of South Africa, showing how musicality is defined there in a culturally-specific manner. Through current research and the historical work of John Blacking, the final section explores how musicality is constructed within and beyond communities. The cross-cultural analysis allows for the examination of distinct notions of embodied musical communication whilst building on developments that support the idea of musicality and its role in enhancing quality of life and feelings of wellbeing.

This chapter seeks the source of the self-creative process that makes music by asking: how can a newborn baby, possessed of powerful means of soliciting the care of its life from a mother, also have ...
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This chapter seeks the source of the self-creative process that makes music by asking: how can a newborn baby, possessed of powerful means of soliciting the care of its life from a mother, also have the power to create or recognize music-like behaviour, and to share it? It has been discovered recently that infants have a discriminating interest in both song and the sounds of musical instruments, and that they make an expressive response to assist in vocal improvisations with their parents. These abilities call for an enquiry into the evolutionary preconditions for musical creativity, in animal movement and vocal communication. Where do the essential parameters of music — its rhythms and its emotive, story-making melodies — come from? It is argued that there is a natural creative process in the human mind, active from birth or before, for the receiving of music. It grows with the innocent pleasure of self-expression in play or reverie, to skill in ritual performance and the sophisticated appreciation of contrived forms of art.Less

Communicative musicality: The human impulse to create and share music

Colwyn Trevarthen

Published in print: 2011-12-22

This chapter seeks the source of the self-creative process that makes music by asking: how can a newborn baby, possessed of powerful means of soliciting the care of its life from a mother, also have the power to create or recognize music-like behaviour, and to share it? It has been discovered recently that infants have a discriminating interest in both song and the sounds of musical instruments, and that they make an expressive response to assist in vocal improvisations with their parents. These abilities call for an enquiry into the evolutionary preconditions for musical creativity, in animal movement and vocal communication. Where do the essential parameters of music — its rhythms and its emotive, story-making melodies — come from? It is argued that there is a natural creative process in the human mind, active from birth or before, for the receiving of music. It grows with the innocent pleasure of self-expression in play or reverie, to skill in ritual performance and the sophisticated appreciation of contrived forms of art.

Musicality is an inherited biological predisposition that is unique to the human species. This chapter argues that music learning (whether structured or informal) happens very early, and long before ...
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Musicality is an inherited biological predisposition that is unique to the human species. This chapter argues that music learning (whether structured or informal) happens very early, and long before we used to believe, and that it takes place as a result of children's innate propensity for learning. Indeed, children's spontaneous music making, from the first mother-infant musical interactions to playground rhymes and jeers, is the springboard of music learning. However, the contexts in which early musical experiences occur are critical, and adult interventions require balancing challenge and skill to achieve musical focus and self-growth in young children, as David Elliott suggests teachers should do at all ages. This chapter examines children's musical understanding, memory, and spontaneity, early childhood music education and its relation to Elliott's praxial philosophy, musical experiences based on context, “flow” in early childhood music experiences, multiculturalism in early childhood music education, music making and music listening in early childhood, and musical creativity in children.Less

Critical Matters in Early Childhood Music Education

David J. Elliott

Published in print: 2009-01-29

Musicality is an inherited biological predisposition that is unique to the human species. This chapter argues that music learning (whether structured or informal) happens very early, and long before we used to believe, and that it takes place as a result of children's innate propensity for learning. Indeed, children's spontaneous music making, from the first mother-infant musical interactions to playground rhymes and jeers, is the springboard of music learning. However, the contexts in which early musical experiences occur are critical, and adult interventions require balancing challenge and skill to achieve musical focus and self-growth in young children, as David Elliott suggests teachers should do at all ages. This chapter examines children's musical understanding, memory, and spontaneity, early childhood music education and its relation to Elliott's praxial philosophy, musical experiences based on context, “flow” in early childhood music experiences, multiculturalism in early childhood music education, music making and music listening in early childhood, and musical creativity in children.

This chapter focuses on lyric poetry and its features such as counterpoint, harmony, syncopation, stress, duration, and timbre. It also presents the number of complex conditions under which that ...
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This chapter focuses on lyric poetry and its features such as counterpoint, harmony, syncopation, stress, duration, and timbre. It also presents the number of complex conditions under which that “sound” is and is not an aspect of lyric. The complexity of the relation between lyric and musicality is that the dynamic tension between sound and semantic can at once both extend and diminish meaning. This chapter also describes features of sound manipulation in poetry such as counterpoising, tagging, echo effects, diagramming, and the “ornamental” devices of rubrication and embellishment that can make the relation between sound and meaning particularly textured and complex. As a figure of spoken sound, the poem produces effects of transformation in sound and it does not fix or reify the terms of utterance.Less

Letter on Sound

Susan Stewart

Published in print: 1998-07-02

This chapter focuses on lyric poetry and its features such as counterpoint, harmony, syncopation, stress, duration, and timbre. It also presents the number of complex conditions under which that “sound” is and is not an aspect of lyric. The complexity of the relation between lyric and musicality is that the dynamic tension between sound and semantic can at once both extend and diminish meaning. This chapter also describes features of sound manipulation in poetry such as counterpoising, tagging, echo effects, diagramming, and the “ornamental” devices of rubrication and embellishment that can make the relation between sound and meaning particularly textured and complex. As a figure of spoken sound, the poem produces effects of transformation in sound and it does not fix or reify the terms of utterance.

This book engages the musicality of Jean-Paul Sartre, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Roland Barthes, all of whom were amateur piano players and acute lovers of the medium. Though piano playing was a ...
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This book engages the musicality of Jean-Paul Sartre, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Roland Barthes, all of whom were amateur piano players and acute lovers of the medium. Though piano playing was a crucial art for these thinkers, their musings on the subject are largely scant, implicit, or discordant with each philosopher's oeuvre. The book both recovers and integrates these perspectives, showing that the manner in which these philosophers played, the composers they adored, and the music they chose reveals uncommon insight into their thinking styles and patterns. The text positions the physical and theoretical practice of music as a dimension underpinning and resonating with Sartre's, Nietzsche's, and Barthes's unique philosophical outlook. By reading their thought against their music, it introduces new critical formulations and reorients their trajectories, adding invaluable richness to these philosophers' lived and embodied experiences. The result heightens the multiple registers of being and the relationship between philosophy and the senses that informed so much of their work.Less

The Philosopher's Touch : Sartre, Nietzsche, and Barthes at the Piano

François Noudelmann

Published in print: 2014-11-11

This book engages the musicality of Jean-Paul Sartre, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Roland Barthes, all of whom were amateur piano players and acute lovers of the medium. Though piano playing was a crucial art for these thinkers, their musings on the subject are largely scant, implicit, or discordant with each philosopher's oeuvre. The book both recovers and integrates these perspectives, showing that the manner in which these philosophers played, the composers they adored, and the music they chose reveals uncommon insight into their thinking styles and patterns. The text positions the physical and theoretical practice of music as a dimension underpinning and resonating with Sartre's, Nietzsche's, and Barthes's unique philosophical outlook. By reading their thought against their music, it introduces new critical formulations and reorients their trajectories, adding invaluable richness to these philosophers' lived and embodied experiences. The result heightens the multiple registers of being and the relationship between philosophy and the senses that informed so much of their work.